Tube V compact

[al2457ma]

I see a lot of people saying to use the tube type UV bulbs and not the compact type. Is there a problem with this other type?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Hopefully I am giving you the right link*:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

-Brad

edit: *I did!

 

[al2457ma]

Thank You. That was very informative. Though the 5.0 did not seem to be a problem, which is the one that I would think would be used. Unless you use the aluminium reflectors. But the fact that I use the 10 and also use the aluminium reflectors on all my desert type reptiles does concern me. I have never seen any problems thus far but I will be doing some revamping. Again Thanks!!

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

For your super UVB loving desert reptiles, look into the MV UVB setups from www.reptileuv.com or use the T-Rex MV line . Absolutely skip any that are "no-name" Chinese imports as there are issues with many of them .

 

[al2457ma]

The good thing is that in Canada we are some what limited to Zoo Med T Rex and Hagen reptile supplies and do not see much of the import items. I should say good and bad!!! We also lose out on some very good products from the U.S. unless we order them. such as Spider Robotics thermostats etc.

Since the tropical 5.0 was not indicated as a problem C.F bulb I would take it that the reason for not using it is a better safe than sorry reason?

I have been keeping reptiles for the better part of 35 years but I am just starting into Chams. For so long there was not a lot of info and they where considered problematic reptiles. But now with the Internet and sites like this one it has sparked my interest in them again.

So please bare with me.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...Since the tropical 5.0 was not indicated as a problem C.F bulb I would take it that the reason for not using it is a better safe than sorry reason?...

Howdy,

For the CF ZooMed Reptisun 5.0, it is a bit of "better safe than sorry", a chunk of "it's just not as good as the linear ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 UVB, and a dash of "the wrong phosphor recipe". They flat-out got the recipe wrong for the compact units. They are made in China while the linears are made in Germany. The German mfgr got the phosphor recipe right and currently, the Chinese mfgr doesn't have access to the "good" phosphor recipe. The result is a poor balance of the UVB-1 vs. UVB-2 portion of the spectrum, if I remember correctly. Some keepers have been successful with using the CF units while others have had health problems pop-up. Sometimes it is difficult to isolate the health problem to the CF unit because the chameleon dies before the lights can be swapped-out. Other have been successful at catching the problem early and swapping to the linear product with full recovery. If the chameleon has had long term (days-weeks), close-up (less than a few inches?) exposure and is very young (<3-4months) the likelihood of problems with the CF unit is much higher.

Novice chameleon keepers are successful when they first start with proven equipment and techniques while learning their chameleon's daily patterns, habits and subtle nuances before experimenting with other husbandry methods .

 

[al2457ma]

Again Thank You. I use a lot of CF bulbs on my reptiles. As I said I will be doing a lot of changes over the next two days.